


I wanna be adored (You adore me)

by SquaresAreNotCircles



Category: Hawaii Five-0 (2010)
Genre: First Kiss, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Getting Together, Kissing, M/M, Romance, Schmoop, this gets very very sappy and you have been warned, which is most of my fic but this one is very explicitly that
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-29
Updated: 2020-05-29
Packaged: 2021-03-02 19:40:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,072
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24442246
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SquaresAreNotCircles/pseuds/SquaresAreNotCircles
Summary: It’s kind of hard not to be in love with Steve. Not because Steve’s such a dreamboat – he is, in many ways, and Danny will readily admit this to anyone who’s not Steve – but because it makes life in general… complicated.Or: Things would be so much easier if Danny could just be in love with Steve, who he loves a lot and trusts with his life and wants to be around always. Too bad things don’t work out that way. Right?
Relationships: Steve McGarrett/Danny "Danno" Williams
Comments: 25
Kudos: 281





	I wanna be adored (You adore me)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [LemonVerbena](https://archiveofourown.org/users/LemonVerbena/gifts).



> This is utterly unapologetic sappy fluff and nothing else. It’s a prompt fill for [LemonVerbena](https://archiveofourown.org/users/lemonverbena) (original prompt in the end notes!), one of a few I still have left from when I asked for them many months ago on Tumblr. I’m still working on all of them! I’m just, uh, not very fast and somewhat easily distracted.
> 
> The title is from _I Wanna Be Adored_ by The Stone Roses.

It’s kind of hard not to be in love with Steve. Not because Steve’s such a dreamboat – he is, in many ways, and Danny will readily admit this to anyone who’s not Steve – but because it makes life in general… complicated.

An example: everyone who sees them interact (and some people who don’t) initially assumes they’re a couple. As a result, dating has become even harder than it used to be, because nice women are never going to help a guy cheat on his decorated Navy veteran boyfriend who has the body of a GQ model and the eyes of an adorable little puppy dog.

“Hi,” Danny might say to a pretty woman in a bar, and that’ll be enough to make her sneer at him because she was there a minute ago when Steve unglued himself from Danny’s side for the first time in half an hour because he needed to take a leak. It’s exceptionally inconvenient.

Just not enough so to do anything about it. No need to overreact, after all.

*

Of course, then there’s the dilemma where every time Danny is out with anyone who’s not Steve, even people he genuinely likes and enjoys spending time with like Chin or Kono, there’s always a subsection of his brain that autonomously decides to allocate all of its resources to Steve anyway. It directs him to wonder what Steve is doing and whether he’s remembering to eat and what he might think of whatever is happening in front of Danny at the moment. Usually, the answer is not that hard – Danny knows Steve better than he knows his own mind – but that’s where his heart comes into play, because that’s the organ that tells him that in spite of what rationality might lead him to believe, it’s still entirely necessary to hear Steve voice his predictable opinions firsthand, because his mere presence makes things more fun.

That’s not a thing Danny has ever thought about anyone on earth. Not even Rachel at the height of their honeymoon phase, and not even his _mom_ when he was five and convinced she was the best human being ever. Nobody, except for Grace. 

Which on its own speaks volumes, because Danny, as anyone who has ever spent five minutes interacting with him can reasonably be expected to know, loves Grace more than life itself. And he’s not, unlike Steve, one of those needlessly self-sacrificial types who’d be willing to lay down his life for just any greater good. His life is pretty damn dear to him. Following this comparison to its natural conclusion, there are some implications about Danny’s feelings for Steve that, understandably, erroneously lead people to believe he doesn’t just love Steve a lot, but he’s head over heels _in_ love.

*

He’s not. They’re just really good friends. Really, really good friends. Really good friends who cuddle when they watch movies, regardless of whether anyone else is present, and who call each other babe and booboo and Danno, and who use any excuse they can get to touch each other because it just feels good. It feels right and comfortable and it’s addictive.

Which makes sense. Humans are pack animals and they crave physical contact with another human being they know and like. Is there any good reason except for mild societal confusion to deny themselves something utterly innocent they both enjoy? No. No, there is not, and Danny will stand by that. 

*

Then, occasionally, there’s the thing where Danny feels kind of punched in the chest from how much he loves Steve, in a way that’s similar to another feeling that previously only Grace has been able to evoke in him. The trigger is usually something small and unpredictable, like coming into the office and finding a hot coffee and two malasadas on his desk, or Steve’s blinding grin and barrage of questions when he hears that Grace came in fourth in the science fair. It’s mundane stuff, stuff he fully expects from Steve, even, because that’s the kind of guy he is, but knowing that just exacerbates the problem.

And it makes Danny- Itchy. Restless. Unsure where to take all his affection, because there’s no good way to let it out. He considers tackling Steve with a hug, sometimes, but that’s not really his style and he knows it wouldn’t be enough. There are butterflies in his stomach and bumblebees tumbling through his heart, adorable and utterly confused.

*

So maybe, in hindsight, it’s been a long time coming when they’re on Steve’s couch, cuddling, and he gets this thought, this slightly crazy tickle of an idea that doesn’t seem so crazy at all from his current perspective. He’s sitting upright with his socked feet propped up on the coffee table. Steve started out the same way but has since slid down until he’s slouched against the back of the couch and Danny’s side, one foot next to Danny’s and one on the floor and his head pillowed on Danny’s shoulder because why not, if it’s there anyway? 

They were watching TV initially, but they turned it off fifteen minutes ago and now there’s no reason to stay where they are, but neither of them has made a move to get up, and if Danny stops staring at the dark screen he can just make out Steve’s relaxed face in profile. His eyes are closed. His breathing is deep, but he’s not snoring yet, which he usually does when he falls asleep sitting up. 

“Hey,” Danny says, quiet enough it wouldn’t wake Steve if he did nod off after all.

Steve’s head turns a little, and then his eyes open and he swallows, like he was close, but not close enough to choose to ignore Danny. “Yeah?”

That idea Danny had gains a stronger foothold. “Hold still for a second, okay?”

“Why?” Steve asks, but he does as told, even when Danny sits up a little and his headrest disappears. “Do I have something on my face?”

Danny could lie and say yes. He wants to, but he’s not going to, and those are both because this is Steve. Instead, he puts a hand on Steve’s cheek, leans in, and kisses the other cheek. It’s stubbly.

“Huh,” Steve says, and everywhere they press together he still feels loose-limbed and comfortable, with no change. “That’s nice.”

Nice. Nice is good. “Want me to do it again?”

Steve shrugs. “Yeah, why not?” 

The nonchalance is convincing, but that doesn’t mean it’s real. Danny aims a little lower this time, pressing his lips to Steve’s jaw, and then he takes advantage of his position and kisses Steve’s cheekbone, too, and then his temple. “Love you,” he whispers, mouth brushing Steve’s hairline. Not saying it would feel like a lie by omission.

Steve’s eyes have fluttered shut. His breathing is deep and regular again. “I love you too. Hey, Danny?”

“Yeah. I’m here.”

Without opening his eyes, Steve brings his hands up to Danny’s face, lifts his own head a fraction, and unerringly presses their lips together. It’s a long, still moment of warm and soft and shouldn’t-this-feel-unfamiliar?

It doesn’t. It feels like home. It feels like everything he wants. It feels like Steve. Those are all the same thing.

When it’s over, Danny hums. “That was nice, too.”

“Yeah.” Steve’s eyes are open again and they’re watching Danny, somehow calmer than they usually are. This is not a crisis. This is not even an uncertainty.

It makes Danny want to sigh. “Things are nicer when you’re around.” He feels stupid after saying that, like a total sap, and then-

“The world doesn’t feel so bad,” Steve says, quietly, in that same a little too honest way, and Danny is instantly okay with wanting too much, sounding too soft and feeling too big. He should have known. Steve makes things okay. It’s what he does.

“Yes,” Danny says, because, hey, yes, and he leans in for another kiss.

*

It’s still two weeks until Grace’s birthday, but Danny has a weekend with her and they have nothing planned and she already knows what she wants as a present. Danny’s been hearing about it for two months now, and so has Steve, and Steve doesn’t have any plans for his weekend either beyond spending more of it marinating in saltwater than a human being should, so obviously he tags along when Danny takes Grace shopping. Or really, it’s not even that he tags along so much as he’s just… there, as a fully expected component of the day. 

It would be much weirder if he weren’t, really.

They’ve barely even set foot in the store Steve recommended that apparently sells the very best yet somewhat budget friendly sporting goods on the island, when they’re approached by a college age girl with bouncy hair and an even bouncier attitude. “Hello! What can I do for you today?”

Grace, who’s been leading them around the mall like a tiny woman on a mission, gets all bouncy in response too. “I’m getting skates for my birthday!” 

The shopgirl smiles broadly. “That’s so cool! I can show you where we have them in your size, if you and your dads will follow me.” 

She makes a motion that invites them to do just that. She and Grace bounce away together, but Danny is a little late getting his feet to move. 

There’s a touch to his arm to draw his attention.

“Sorry,” Steve says, under his breath, like he can see right into Danny’s brain and knows exactly how defensive Danny would usually get over anyone being called Grace’s dad but himself, because he’s had to fight tooth and nail to be allowed to be there for her like that. It’s not something he shares easily.

But that’s not what Danny’s feeling now. “It’s fine. You more or less _are_ -” He stops, because there’s something there, something lurking right under the surface of the implication that they’re both Grace’s parents, that they’re raising a kid together. 

He looks at Steve, and he can see in the very slight wrinkle of Steve’s brow that he’s arrived there too. 

They’ve been here before, but they’ve never been here after spending lazy evenings making out on the couch like teenagers, syrupy slow and sweet. Danny is surprised by his own surprise for a beat, thinks it over, gets why a stranger might have drawn that mistaken conclusion for the so manieth time and then, well. “Hey,” he says, hitting Steve’s chest with the back of his hand, but it’s casual, more of an affectionate pat than anything else. “You ever think-”

“That they might all be right?” Steve fills in, because for all that they spend all day most days disagreeing over useless stuff with fervor, Steve’s good at that, at picking up where Danny’s train of thought leaves off in the moments when it counts.

Danny inclines his head, because yeah. “Kinda.”

Steve tilts his head exactly the same way. “Doesn’t mean we were wrong.”

“Of course not.” If there’s one thing Steve hates, it’s being wrong, and Danny’s never been one to enjoy it much either. And anyway, it’s true – they weren’t. “Nothing wrong about this.”

“Exactly.” 

“Yeah,” Danny says, belaboring the point.

Steve’s not smiling, not really, but the way he looks at Danny fills Danny with that butterfly-bumblebee warmth anyway. “What’s romance if it’s not wanting to kiss your best friend?” Steve asks, and then he’s really smiling after all, and he leans in to press his lips to the corner of Danny’s mouth. His hand on Danny’s back lingers for a moment, pretending like he doesn’t have perfect balance all on his own. 

Then Steve gives a little push to start Danny moving. Danny retaliates by gently shoving Steve aside and Steve laughs and is dislodged briefly but comes right back, right back to put his hands on Danny again as they make their way to the corner of the store where Grace is trying on skates patterned with little pink hearts. Danny knows how this will go. He knows because it will be exactly the way it’s always been, which is that Grace will beam for joy because she’s an angel and Steve will watch her and beam even bigger and Danny will watch both of them, feelings ballooning up too big in his chest and wondering how on earth, after everything, he got this lucky in love.

**Author's Note:**

> The original prompt from [lemon--verbena](https://lemon--verbena.tumblr.com/) on Tumblr: “I’d really like to read a fic where Steve & Danny are super close best friends who snuggle on couches, flirt, etc (like early seasons peak McDanno behavior) & they’re so platonically in love. Everyone thinks they’re together but they’re not but they love each other so much & have no physical way to express it. I guess eventually they kiss to show their love but they like it and want to do it again? And their love shifts to romantic. Kind of lame. It made sense in my head but it’s hard 2 explain.” And A) I did not think it was lame at all and B) I had a lot of fun writing this and I really hope it overlaps with what you had in mind!
> 
> -
> 
> As always, thank you for reading!! Also as always, comments are so very welcome, if you feel inclined and have the time.
> 
> You can find me on Tumblr as [itwoodbeprefect](https://itwoodbeprefect.tumblr.com), or with my exclusively H50 (and mostly McDanno) sideblog as [five-wow](https://five-wow.tumblr.com).


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